Developing Clear Communication in a Church Capital Campaign - Part II

Determine the right capital campaign communication track for your congregation. Not all communication roll outs propel the vision further in the right direction. As advertising legend David Ogilvy wisely points out: “It’s said that the head of marketing research at Ford once inserted advertisements in every other copy of the Reader’s Digest. At the end of the year, the people who had not been exposed to the advertising had bought more Fords than those who had.” Oops!

In a capital campaign, appropriately and contextually portraying the vision is critical. What do we mean by “appropriately”? Again, it means developing communications, starting with the receiver’s point of reference. This is true whether the church is Presbyterian, Catholic, Methodist, Pentecostal, Baptist, Lutheran, Episcopal, Independent, or any other. Clear and compelling communications is essential for any capital campaign.

Sometimes, professional stewardship campaign strategists or church building consultants include helpful feasibility studies as part of their consulting package. Of course, these studies are quite valuable in many more areas than just communications; however, they will help provide the key information to make the case for support, one of the most important pieces in your capital campaign.

So, how does one determine the audience’s perspective? With a few good diagnostic questions to yield good insight, a discerning communications professional can get a feel for the culture(s) of your church and what will be appropriate. For example, asking questions about the history of the church is a good start. Questions pertaining to key influences on the leadership and the vision — and how much the church has been exposed to those ideas — are also helpful. With a good understanding of the audience’s point of reference, a communications track is now set to help guide the verbal and design direction. Make no mistake: It will make a difference in how well your church executes its capital campaign.